10/30/2024 - Jefferson City, Mo.
A report issued today
by Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick of the Kingston K-14 School
District gives district leaders recommendations to improve the way they manage
and oversee taxpayer dollars. The audit, which was initiated by a petition
signed by 299 residents of the district, gives the district a rating of "fair"
noting the School Board gave $68,500 in unreasonable stipends to district
employees and violated the Missouri Constitution by paying retroactive
extra-duty stipends totaling $2,600.
"I appreciate the
effort of the residents of the district who took the time to gather the
signatures to trigger this audit. I hope our report gives them a better
understanding of how the district's leadership is performing as well as the
areas in which the district needs to improve moving forward," said
Fitzpatrick. "It's clear the School Board and district staff need to
improve the level of oversight they provide for the millions of dollars in
taxpayer money that flow through their schools. I'm glad to see the district
has responded favorably to our recommendations and has already acted to put
many of them into place."
The report details how
the Kingston K-14 School District has not adequately segregated payroll duties
and how one employee received more pay than authorized and others received
salaries that could not be supported. This includes the superintendent's
husband, who was hired as a full-time bus driver at the district's highest rate
despite the fact there was no documentation to support the years of service he
needed to justify that rate. Additionally, the report found $500 stipends paid
to all district full-time employees in December 2022 were insufficiently
supported and unreasonable. The district's own policies do not provide for such
stipends, which were given to express appreciation for the district's employees,
but connected to professional and personal development. The district
maintained no documentation supporting the stipend amount, any evaluation of
its reasonableness, or the amount of time employees were expected to spend
accessing the professional and personal growth resources.
The
report also found the Board violated the Missouri Constitution by paying
retroactive extra-duty stipends to 13 athletic coaches and band and choir
directors. The retroactive adjustments totaled approximately $2,600 for all
employees. The district did not document its reasoning for applying mid-year stipend increases retroactively or
any additional work performed.
Payments for services
previously rendered are in violation of Article III, Section 39(3), Missouri Constitution.
Another finding in the
report focuses on the district's need to improve its procedures for
expenditures. A review of 40 expenditures totaling approximately $1 million
found 2 expenditures for which Board approval was not documented and the
expenditures were not included in the monthly check listing provided to the
Board for review. One of the expenditures was for $3,625 in gift cards for the
district's 145 employees. The district does not have a policy on gift purchases
and the report concludes the gift cards may not have been a prudent,
reasonable, or necessary use of district funds. The district also failed to
adequately monitor its Walmart purchasing cards, which resulted in 5 of the district's
17 active cards being in the possession of former employees.
The
audit also found the district issued General Obligation bonds using a
negotiated sale rather than a competitive sale process, did not solicit
proposals for underwriting services, and received financial advisory services
from the underwriter. Additionally, the district needs to improve its
receipting and depositing procedures, regularly prepare complete and timely
annual budgets, fully comply with the Sunshine Law, and develop procedures to
limit the time period when attendance changes can be made.
The complete report for the Kingston K-14 School District can be found here.
